THE IMPACT OF STRESS ON JOB EFFECTIVENESS AND HOME INTERACTION AMONG CAREER WOMEN IN THE BANKING INSTITUTIONS IN CAPE COAST AND TAKORADI MUNICIPALITIES

ABSTRACT Research on the influence of work stress on the mental health of many workers like medical officers, air traffic controllers, nurses and teachers have been given some attention or recognition by the researcher on stress. However in Ghana one group of workers who seem to have been neglected is female bankers. The researcher decided to find out the impact of stress on job effectiveness and home interaction among career women in the banking institutions in the Cape Coast and Takoradi municipalities’ A sample of one hundred and sixty (160) female bankers were obtained through the purposive sampling was used for this study. A questionnaire designed by the researcher was used to collect the data. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were employed for the study. The study revealed that in terms of effect of work related stress on the family interaction of female bankers in both Cape Coast and Takoradi Municipalities on marital status, age and number of children were significant. Again the study revealed that female bankers were normally not able to combine their work and home duties. The study also revealed the most stress symptoms reported by the female bankers are; have no concentration at work, unable to meet deadlines, unable to sleep, worry a lot and become easily irritated. On coping strategies the study also revealed that while most female bankers preferred “talking to a colleague” and going for a short walk as stress coping strategies at work, at home they preferred “relaxing, and “try to balance their diet’, as stress coping strategies. Based on the above, it is recommended that the various banking institutions must provide some stress relieving packages in place for their employees to reduce stress experienced by their workers.